Kicking off their season on Saturday Sept. 1, the Brandeis University women’s soccer team is warming up to a successful season. The women have been working hard to make this an amazing season, and they began with two matches. The first was against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Sept.1, and the second was against Lasell College on Sept. 2.

In their first meet of the season, the team won their game against MIT by a score of 3-2. By half-time, the Judges were winning 2-0, starting off the game on a very strong note. The first goal of the game, and also of the season, was scored by Sasha Sunday ’19, in the 12th minute of the game, assisted skillfully by Makenna Hunt ’22. In the 34th minute, Katie Hayes ’20 scored the fourth goal of her career and the second goal of the game.

Although the Judges were seeming unstoppable in the first half of play, MIT caught up in the second half. After an uneventful overtime period, Brandeis sophomore Mackenzie Smith won the game on the first shot of the second overtime session. In the 104th minute, Smith was able to put the Judges over the edge with a 3-2 victory

The very next day, the Brandeis women’s soccer team took home yet another victory over Lasell College. Ending with a score of 4-0, the women’s team scored an impressive two times in each half of the game. After 13 minutes of the game, senior Julia Matson scored her first goal of the season, putting the first point on the scoreboard. 

After that, Katie Hayes ‘20 scored for the second straight game and for the second point of this game. After halftime, midfielder Daria Bakhtiari ’21 brought the score to 3-0. In the end, senior Julia Jaffe scored in the 65th minute of the game, closing out the scoring that would take place during this game and solidifying the victories for the Justice. 

Goalies Sierra Dana ’20 and Victoria Richardson ’21 refused to allow Lasell College to score a single point. This is a positive sign as the Judges go into the rest of their season: both the offense and defense are proving to be forces to be reckoned with.

After the successful game for the team, the women added seven-year-old Annelizabeth Jeanbaptiste, a young girl with sickle cell anemia, via a program called Team IMPACT. The Brandeis’ women's soccer team joins six other Brandeis teams, including men's soccer, baseball, softball and both men's and women's swimming and diving, to work with Team IMPACT. 

Team IMPACT, based out of Boston, is a nonprofit organization that helps children facing serious illnesses connect with college athletic teams in order to form lifelong relationships, based out of Boston, MA. The program makes a positive impact in the lives of many young children. Many Brandeis athletes will be able to make similar impacts later this season and temporarily add these kids to their rosters to practice and play. Soccer was only the first this season and based on the reaction, it is safe to say it will be a resounding success across the board. 

Next Sunday, the women’s soccer team goes head to head with Johnson & Wales University.They then remain at home to take on Eastern Connecticut State. The next Saturday, they will open up a three-game road stretch against Babson College. They will remain in the vicinity and take on Tufts University on the road on the Saturday following. Then on Tuesday, the squad will compete against Wellesley College before entering UAA play. 

The Women's soccer team also has high expectations for their season as they came off a campaign which brought them to the final four. They will be hoping to bring some attention to the Brandeis soccer program